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Not guilty verdict over cover-up
From: AAP
May 12, 2006
PERTH identity John Kizon walked free today after a jury cleared him of covering
up a bloody knife and gunfight between his mate and a street gang member at a
city nightclub.
After a 16-day trial in the West Australian District Court, a jury cleared Mr
Kizon of disposing of a gun his friend Troy Mercanti had used to shoot Scorpion
Boys gang member Nabil Dabag.
Mr Mercanti shot Dabag after being slashed and stabbed in the chest during their
vicious fight at the Metro City nightclub, in inner-city Northbridge, in
February last year.
Mr Kizon was one of five co-accused on trial for perverting the course of
justice by trying to cover up the shooting.
His co-accused were Mr Mercanti, David Morris, Adam Lloyd and Paul Martino. All
five have now been cleared of perverting the course of justice.
Mr Mercanti, a member of the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle club, was also tried and
cleared on a charge of unlawful wounding.
Prosecutor Dave Dempster told the jury that minutes after Mr Mercanti fired four
shots, Mr Kizon, a company director, began covering his mate's actions.
Mr Kizon picked up the gun, which has never been found, and placed it in a
plastic bag, held by Mr Morris, to cover up the fight, the prosecutor said.
He said Mr Lloyd, the nightclub's operation manager, cleared up the blood from
the passageway.
Mr Dempster said Mr Martino rushed to hospital after learning of the fight,
where he wiped gunshot residue off the fingers of the wounded Mr Mercanti.
But the jury believed the accused men were innocent.
Mr Kizon's lawyer had told the court the trial came about because police wanted
to pin charges on his well-known client.
He accused officers of "hotting up" evidence and suggested anyone could have
taken the gun because officers failed to secure the crime scene.
The jurors accepted defence arguments that Mr Kizon, after failing to stop the
men from wounding each other, had picked up the gun and taken it to the
nightclub's office to prevent more violence.
"I wasn't leaving no gun on no floor with those two gentlemen," Mr Kizon said in
evidence.
Outside the court today, Mr Kizon called on WA's Corruption and Crime Commission
(CCC) to investigate the police officers involved in the case.
"The CCC has no authority at all," Mr Kizon said.
"They should be investigating the police officers ... they kept a person in
jail, a good friend of mine (Mr Mercanti), for 16 months through lying and
perverting the course of justice.
"All I can say is that the people that wanted to see me get convicted, I hope it
hurts."
Mr Kizon said he would not be doing anything special to celebrate his acquittal.
"Mate, I celebrate with life," he said.
"I wake up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror and go, 'he's a
little bit rough but, mate, he is a fair guy'."
